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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The city has reached a contract extension with Department of Public Works employees but will have to try again in upcoming talks to negotiate a holiday switch for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, said city Administrator Ted Wampole.</p><p>Except for acknowledging MLK Day, the deal that runs through year&#8217;s end with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 401 is similar to the extension reached last month with<a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/661042/wilkes-barre-union-agrees-to-swap-for-mlk-day-off-city-hall-to-close-for-holiday" target="_blank"> City Hall workers and emergency medical technicians represented by the Laborers&#8217; International Union of North America Local 1310</a>. The contract includes a 3 percent pay raise and 12 paid holidays, Wampole said Monday.</p><p>&#8220;They didn&#8217;t do a swap. We will be pushing for the swap in the next contract,&#8221; Wampole said of the holiday switch.</p><p>Teamsters business manager Pat Connors was out of the office for the week and unavailable for comment.</p><p>Because these are only one-year deals, negotiations with the two unions will start again next month, focusing on concessions while the city attempts to improve its finances with the help of The PFM Group. The Philadelphia-based consultant has been working on a strategic plan as part of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s participation in the state&#8217;s Early Intervention Program to avoid financial collapse.</p><p>The city&#8217;s weak financial position has kept it from entering long-term contracts with its unions. For that reason, PFM advocated one-year extensions for the two contracts that ended last year, Wampole said. &#8220;It was already budgeted this year,&#8221; he added.</p><p>The firefighters&#8217; contract also expired at the end of last year. But the city and the International Associations of Fire Fighters Local 104 have been unable to come to terms on a new deal. &#8220;We asked for two years. They asked for four,&#8221; Wampole said. Both sides are now waiting on an arbitrator&#8217;s decision.</p><p>For years, the Wilkes-Barre branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People pushed to have City Hall closed in honor of King, the slain civil rights leader. The city refused, citing the estimated $77,000 it would cost for the extra holiday and the reluctance of the unions to switch one day off for another.</p><p>Rather than add a new paid holiday, the city and Local 1310 recently agreed to switch Good Friday for MLK Day. It was written into the contract and will be there going forward pending any changes, Wampole explained. Starting next year, City Hall will be closed for the holiday that falls on Jan. 15 in 2018.</p><p><ins>For other local news stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/local" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>No MLK holiday swap with public works employees</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Second union OKs contract extension with Wilkes-Barre, but no MLK holiday swap